H. Y., E. Y. and G. Y.'

* * * * *

ALEXANDRIA:

Dec. 27, 1825.

'MY DEAREST FATHER,

'Although I cannot write as long a letter as I intended and wish, for
lack of time, yet, as there are several vessels in this harbour on the
point of sailing for England, I must, after so long an interval, put pen
to paper in your behalf.

'By the finish of my last letter to you which I trust was prolix enough
I was at Smyrna, and had informed you of my visiting in this country its
nobles and princes: and I think mentioned something of a visit I paid to
Ali Bey, the Governor of Idun a country to the Nd. of Smyrna, whose
capital is Magnesia, where the residence of the Governor is. I twice
visited this Prince, and, so much was he pleased the first time, that he
invited me to come a second when there was to be a hunt of birds and
beasts. On the 13th of September, Forrester the Surgeon, Weatley my 2nd
Lieutenant, and myself with a young Armenian as an interpreter and a
Janissary for a "Garde du corps," started "au point du jour" from
Smyrna, and arrived in the afternoon at Magnesia, one of the prettiest
Turkish towns I have seen. Our journey slow, over bad roads, did not
afford any circumstances much worth relating. We found our new
acquaintances Turk and Christian, both in their way agreeable; the
Armenian, young, sensible, and an extraordinary linguist, speaking nine